Thrown Out at Midnight, I Saved a General by Dawn novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Front Door

On Monday morning, before we left, I worked his right arm for forty minutes in the sunroom.

I pressed my thumbs along the inside of his forearm, one inch at a time, and watched for the flicker under his skin.

"Tell me when you feel it," I said.

"Now."

"Where?"

"Wrist. Don't stop."

I moved up to the elbow, and his jaw tightened.

I was holding a general's bare arm in both hands, and his pulse was running hard against my fingertips.

I told myself that was the medicine.

"That's enough for today," I said, and let go too quickly.

"It isn't," he said, but he did not take the arm back.

At nine we walked into the sheriff's station through the front door, in daylight.

Ansel went first, on the cane.

He had insisted on walking from the car to the steps.

The aide stayed a pace behind him, and nobody said a word about it.

His lawyer carried a thin black case and wore a very calm face.

A deputy took us down a hallway to a room with a long table, and a detective rose to meet us.

She was in her fifties, with reading glasses pushed into gray hair and a folder under her arm.

"Dr. Kincaid. Thank you for coming in."

"Detective."

"I have your family waiting down the hall. I'd like to do this together, if you don't mind."

I did mind, and I said yes.

They were already at the table.

My father sat with his hands folded and did not look up.

Lenore wore a navy dress and pearls.

Paige had her hair in a low braid and her face scrubbed clean.

She had brought a tissue, and she used it.

The family lawyer sat between them.

"This is a sad day," Lenore said to the detective. "We only want Tessa to get help."

"I'm sure," the detective said. "Dr. Kincaid, your family says you drove their daughter's car home on Thursday night after drinking, hit a mailbox on Sycamore, and left. Is that right?"

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